On October 31, ACOG kicked off the second phase of our Regional Transit Dialogue process, called RTD2. No one arrived in costume, but the Steering Committee ate Halloween candy and discussed the next steps for regional transit in the Central Oklahoma area.
Our chairman, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, led the introductions and then turned the meeting over to ACOG’s Transportation & Planning Division Director, Doug Rex.
Doug took us through an explanation of the history of the Regional Transit Dialogue. The committee revisited the governance, finance, land use, and public outreach recommendations from part one of the process and began to think about how we could build upon those recommendations and what could be accomplished in this new phase of the RTD.
Then we changed gears and saw a presentation from Brian Piascik of URS Corporation. URS is the consulting firm that will be conducting our Commuter Corridors Study. One major responsibility of the Regional Transit Dialogue Steering Committee during RTD2 will be to serve as the steering committee for the Commuter Corridors Study. The study will be starting soon and the project will take approximately 18 months.
Next, the committee had a lively discussion about what projects the members wanted to take on in addition to the Commuter Corridors Study. Suggestions ranged from public education to polling to hammering out the details of the governing structure for a future regional transit authority.
The committee agreed to meet approximately every two months during the beginning of this new phase of the RTD. The next meeting will be scheduled in January. During that meeting, the committee will receive a further update on the Commuter Corridors Study and will begin to prioritize and assign responsibility for its other projects.